Why cheap power could matter more than clean power in the push for net zero The question of how important making our electricity clean is to going green is coming under increasing scrutiny

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Critical Atlantic current significantly more likely to collapse than thought Scientists say finding is ‘very concerning’ as collapse would be catastrophic for Europe, Africa and the Americas

On the day we get this concerning news the BBC see fit to publish a muddled article questioning net zero (link below) www.theguardian.com/environment/...

It’s a great exhibition with loads of her paintings and other works of art. Highly recommended. It’s still very popular, so get tickets in good time

I thought so too, there seems to be a widespread determination to push this narrative regardless of the reality that is abundantly clear from the data

It’s certainly good the survey has been recognised as flawed, but they still seem to be pushing the same narrative, regardless of the results of the analysis that was used to expose the flaws in the survey in the first place

[Scene is a MOON BASE on the moon. The Moonbase has an AMAZON logo on the top of its domed glass roof. From inside it, we hear a voice.]: WHEEEE Cut to interior scene. We see it is the voice of a man in a space suit, bouncing around in the low gravity, having a great time. We gradually realise that this man is Jeff Bezos. Boing haha. Wheeee! [close in on Jeff's face] JEFF BEZOS: Alexa! Set gravity to ‘Earth’. ALEXA HOME SPEAKER: Sure! Ending poverty on Earth now… JEFF BEZOS: No! Alexa, *stop*… Set gravity levels to 'Earth'. ALEXA: Sure Jeff. Whum. [Jeff gently sticks to the ground] [Pause.] ALEXA: Jeff - would you like to continue with: 'End poverty on Earth'? [Jeff thinks about this for a very long time, his face in a rictus of awkwardness. His eyes dart left and right in his head, while he is frozen in thought. This goes on for many panels.] [in the final panel it just cuts to Jeff bouncing again, saying "Wheee"] [Ends]

from 2019

In a world of war, abuse and rising fascism, ‘woke’ was never the enemy Mainstream conservatives and even centrists rounded on progressive culture as though it were a threat to society. Now they see where the real threat lay, writes Dorian Lynskey

“But centrists, too, need to confront reality and ask themselves if truffling out low-stakes campus controversies and bad tweets was the best use of their time when fascism was hurtling down the tracks”

www.thenerve.news/p/woke-war-d...

NEW: This new report, from BBC, is the best takedown of the insanity of Trump you will see anywhere.

Calm, coherent and repeating only Trump’s own words. Devastating.

Brilliant work once again from Roz Atkins.

(🎥 BBC News)

We need to be honest about Iran – and how our rampant greed for oil is causing mayhem | George Monbiot Oil has empowered capitalism, and some of the world’s most exploitative regimes. Move away from it and we can solve some of the key issues we face, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

Fossil fuels push the world towards autocracy. Were we less dependent on them, there might have been no President Trump, no President Putin, no ayatollahs, no Netanyahu, no perpetual Middle East wars. Democracy depends on unhooking ourselves.
This week's column.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Sharron Davies: 'Scrap pills-by-post scheme to protect women' Pro-abortion Peer Baroness Davies of Devonport has explained why she backs the reintroduction of in-person consultations for abortions.

Sharon Davies moves on from protecting women from trans people to protecting them from improved abortion rights www.christian.org.uk/news/sharron...

There's a special place reserved in Hell for hacks and apologists who attempt to explain the verbal dribblings of Donald Trump.
Trump is insane and dangerous. It's that simple. Call it out.

Elon Musk’s Tesla given go-ahead to supply electricity in Great Britain Ofgem licence means firm can replicate Texas setup of powering homes, businesses and EVs

A remarkable decision given Musk’s interventions in UK and European politics www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

It’s done well to survive there so long, despite all the development around it and (now) the recreational pressure. It’s thriving also at the other Plymouth site at Billacombe Green

Brilliant. An expat im Dubai has a startling revelation, by @stephencollins.bsky.social

An infographic from Our World in Data titled "Global land use for food production" uses a series of stacked horizontal bar charts to visualize the distribution of Earth's surface and the disproportionate land requirements of livestock. The first bar shows Earth's surface is 71% ocean and 29% land (141 million km²); the land surface is then broken down into 76% habitable land, 10% glaciers, and 14% barren land. Of the habitable land, 45% (48 million km²) is used for agriculture, while 38% is forests and 13% is shrubland. The agricultural land bar reveals a major disparity: 80% (38 million km²) is dedicated to livestock (meat, dairy, and textiles) including grazing land and cropland for feed, while only 16% is used for crops for direct human consumption and 4% for non-food crops. Finally, two smaller bars at the bottom contrast this land use with nutritional output, showing that while livestock uses 80% of agricultural land, it only provides 17% of global calories and 38% of global protein, whereas plant-based foods provide 83% of calories and 62% of protein.

80% of agricultural land is used for livestock (and textiles), yet this huge land use provides only 17% of our calories and 38% of our protein.

16% of the land used for crops provides 83% of our calories and 62% of our protein. It's past time we rethink what we eat.

European Parliament declares that trans women are women European Parliament has officially passed a resolution declaring that trans women are women in a major win for LGBTQ+ rights.

Good to see the EU Parliament standing up for trans people and fighting back against their demonisation by the far right and authoritarian regimes around the world www.thepinknews.com/2026/02/18/e...

The crucial difference, in other words, is not that Starmer has made enemies, but how much effort his government has put into kicking its friends. The performative harshness of policies towards immigrants or trans people; the ministers or spokespeople who’ve noisily attacked universities, welfare claimants, public sector workers, social liberals – almost anyone, in short, who might be naturally minded to support a Labour government. They’ve attacked all these people, in a desperate attempt to make clear to racists and social conservatives that they hear them. If the racists and social conservatives were actually going to vote for them this would merely seem abhorrent. When they clearly aren’t, it’s stupid too. No, it is not surprising that Starmer is so unpopular.

Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social sums up why Starmer is responsible for voters hating him after such a short time:

Oatly banned from using word ‘milk’ to market plant-based products in UK Supreme court makes ruling after Swedish firm’s long-running battle with trade association Dairy UK

This is quite frankly a stupid use of the law. Unbelievable that the dairy industry has kicked off in this way.
www.theguardian.com/business/202...

More or Less with the wonderful Tim Harford and his team

yeah i hate those celebrity comedians who lecture people about their pet causes

Stalin notorious for making sure you could walk to the shops

ICE detains five-year-old Minnesota boy arriving home, say school officials Superintendent says Liam Ramos and his father were taken into custody while in their driveway and sent to Texas

‘Terrible things are happening outside… Families are torn apart; men, women and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared. Women return… to find their families gone.’
Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

1 [Title panel] BEE TALK [News-type magazine show, with bees] 2 ANCHOR BEE: Tonight: America Divided 3 Will bees and murder hornets ever find a path to reconciliation? 4 Cheryl? CHERYL BEE: Well, on the one hand this is partly caused by social media... 5 Algorithms are making us *hyper-aware* of insects who have different values to us, and this is having a polarising effect. ANCHOR BEE: Mmm. 6 Also the murder hornets want to chew off my head and eat my kids. 7 ANCHOR BEE: Jason? 8 JASON MURDER HORNET: You see, this is what debate has *become* in this country. 9 Bees pretend to be all fuzzy and nice, but they simply *won’t accept* different worldviews! 10 I mean, ultimately we're all the same, right? You want to buzz around, gather pollen and make honey... 11 I want to chop off your head and legs, gather your thorax and nibble your kids. 12 CHERYL BEE: [GETTING UP]: I’m leaving JASON MURDER HORNET: Oh she’s *triggered* [Ends]

From November 2020, when murder hornets were killing the bees in the US

It's beginning to look like all of those guns Americans buy to keep government in check were only ever bought for school shootings.

Shermer is an embarrassment to the term skeptic. He has been for a long time. He isn’t welcome at any skeptical event I’m aware of, and rightly so. Jesus fucking christ.

Thank you for the card, it’s much appreciated!

Ten things you could do in 2026 to help change things for the better It feels as though 2025 has been another tough, ugly year and worse than the last. Empowered by Trump, Musk and a large portion of the media, racism, misogyny, environmental destruction, fascism, crue...

westcountryvoices.co.uk/ten-things-y...

I’ve said this before: I’m a Humanist and what that really means for me is that all the things some people find in a god - love, comfort, meaning, purpose - I find in my fellow humans.

Wonderful birds